PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A suspect is in the hospital after he allegedly stabbed himself during a hostage situation in Paulding County Wednesday afternoon.
A release from the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office said their emergency call center received a call from Polk County 911 regarding a possible hostage situation in the 900 block of High Shoals Road just before 2:15 p.m. They say the call came from Polk County because an uninitialized cellphone was getting service from a cellphone tower there.
Based on information from the Paulding 911 center, deputies say they determined there was possibly a domestic dispute between a man and a woman, and that the man was holding the woman against her will with a gun.
The 911 center advised deputies that the woman said the man expressed that he would kill both of them if the “police” showed up, the sheriff’s office reports. That’s when deputies set up a perimeter around the home and started calling out to the house with a PA from patrol cars.
Shortly after deputies arrived, the woman “frantically” ran out the house and said the man stabbed himself as she was leaving, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies say they heard a man scream from inside.
Paulding SWAT Operators and Crisis Negotiations Team Deputies responded to help, continuing to try and talk the man into opening the front door and peacefully exit, the sheriff’s office said.
SWAT Operators later made their way to the front door, spoke with the man, and saw he had some “very serious” self-inflicted lacerations to his stomach.
The sheriff’s office reports EMS personnel were able to safely remove the man from the home after SWAT operators secured the scene. Then he was taken to a nearby hospital.
The suspect will be taken to the Paulding County Jail once he recovers and is released from the hospital, where he’ll face several charges regarding the hostage situation and domestic dispute.
Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Tip Line at (770) 443-3047.
